World No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska easily defeated Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-3 in her opening match at the Bank of the West Classic on Wednesday.
Radwanska, the top seed in the WTA Tour hard-court tournament, had a bye through the first round and won 60 percent of her first-serve points in the 84-minute second-round contest.
She next faces sixth seed Varvara Lepchenko of the US, who beat Tamira Paszek 6-4, 6-4 earlier on Wednesday.
Photo: EPA
It was the eighth career meeting between the two since Schiavone won their first match 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 in the semi-finals in Luxembourg in 2006. Schiavone went on to win the next three meetings.
Radwanska, after Wednesday’s match, has won the last four, all in straight sets.
Radwanska is seeking her third title of the year after winning in Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney. She has 12 career singles titles, including 10 on hard courts.
In the only other match on Wednesday, fifth seed Sorana Cirstea cruised past US qualifier Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-3.
Cirstea moves on to the next round where she faces Olga Govortsova, who upset second seed Samantha Stosur in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
BAKU CUP
AP, BAKU
Top seed and defending champion Bojana Jovanovski lost in the second round of the Baku Cup on Wednesday, falling to wild-card entry Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-2, 7-5.
Jovanovski won only two points in the first four games, but the Serb broke to lead 5-3 in the second set before Jabeur broke back twice to win.
Also on Wednesday, second seed Donna Vekic of Croatia defeated Ukrainian qualifier Tetyana Arefyeva 6-1, 6-2, while third seed Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa knocked out Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
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